The ADAM computer was introduced in the early 1980's at the same time as the TI, Commodore 64, and Kaypro. The ADAM was an 8 bit computer with a Z80 processor chip, 81 KB of onboard memory, internal cassette data drive, and an attached daisy wheel printer which also housed the power supply for the system. All of these components were interconnected with a series of separate processor chips in the CPU, keyboard, printer and data drive circuitry.

When introduced by Coleco Industries, the system was ready to use right out of the box, whether you bought the stand alone version or the version that attached to your existing ColecoVision game console. The computer system included an built-in word processor, a blank storage tape, BASIC programming, and the Buck Rogers game tape (the game tapes were slightly larger than regular audio tapes but I ended up modifying my tape drive to accept audio tapes as a medium). Shortly after introduction, Coleco added 5 1/4" disk drives, a 300 baud internal modem, a 64 KB memory expander, and numerous new programs such as SmartLogo, ADAMCalc, CP/M 2.2, and other game cassettes and programs. When Coleco dropped the ADAM line in early 1985, third party developers of software and hardware took over. They introduced speech synthesizers, 80 column video, serial/parallel interface cards for faster modems and dot matrix printers, bigger memory cards, larger disk drives and separate power supplies. As the nineties came along, more products were developed along with new software and a new TDOS operating system. Today, there are memory expanders up to 2 MB, serial modem speeds to 9600 baud, clock interface cards, hard drives of MFM, RLL and IDE types accessable to 60 MB, and disk drives to 1.44 MB.

There is also an ADAMSERVE program to "take over" a PC-compatable computer and use its peripherals such as disk drives, printers, etc.